Gujarat Titans have done something truly special. Three IPL finals in five years is not something every team can say. Most franchises would kill for that kind of run. But here is the thing, GT has a problem that keeps showing up, season after season. They lean too hard on Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, and Jos Buttler. When those three bat well, GT wins. When they don’t, GT loses. It is almost that simple.
The IPL 2026 final was a painful reminder of this. Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowled GT out of the game early and then Virat Kohli walked in and finished the job with the bat. GT never really had a chance. Even with the positives, Jason Holder fitting in nicely, Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj forming a great bowling duo, and Washington Sundar growing into a proper match-winner, the final showed that this squad still has some weak links.
So ahead of IPL 2027, GT needs to make some tough calls. Here is a look at the players GT should release and why those decisions make complete sense.
Shahrukh Khan, The Wait Has Gone On Too Long
Let’s start with the biggest name on this list, M. Shahrukh Khan.
A few years ago, Shahrukh Khan was being talked about as one of the most exciting finishers in Indian cricket. Big hits, strong hands, fearless batting, he had all of it on paper. Teams spent big money on him. The hype was real. But somewhere along the way, the hype stopped matching the results.
Shahrukh has now been with GT for a while and the story has not changed much. He has been given chances at different batting positions. He has been backed by the team management. He has had every opportunity to prove himself. Yet, the big innings just haven’t come on a regular basis.
Think about this, Shahrukh has earned close to INR 40 crore through IPL salaries across his career. That is a huge amount of money for a player who has never even crossed 200 runs in a single IPL season. Not once. That stat alone tells you a lot.
In IPL 2026, Shahrukh batted five times and managed just 43 runs at a strike rate of 130.3. For a finisher, that strike rate is simply not good enough. Finishers are not just expected to score, they are expected to score fast and take the game away from the opposition in the death overs. A strike rate of 130 in that role is more of a liability than an asset.
GT currently pay him INR 4 crore per season. That money could easily be used to bring in a better, more reliable finisher at the IPL 2027 auction. There are younger Indian batters out there who hit just as hard and bring more hunger to the table. GT holding on to Shahrukh at this point is more loyalty than strategy. And in the IPL, strategy has to win.
It is not easy to write off a player like Shahrukh because you can see the talent. But talent without results, over a long period of time, cannot keep earning a spot in a team chasing IPL glory.
Rahul Tewatia, The Magic Has Faded
Rahul Tewatia was genuinely brilliant in the early years of GT. He hit some of the most memorable sixes in IPL history during that period and won games almost on his own. Those knocks were real and they mattered a lot.
But that was then.
Since 2024, Tewatia has scored 477 runs at an average of 21.68. At first glance, that average looks decent. But look closer, he has 14 not outs in that stretch. That means many of his “good” innings came when the team was already in a winning position and he did not face the hardest balls. Remove those not outs and the numbers tell a very different story.
His strike rate since 2024 is 149.06. Again, for a specialist finisher who does not contribute with the ball at all, that is not the kind of number that wins you close matches against top bowling attacks.
In IPL 2026, Tewatia scored 190 runs at a strike rate of 143.93. He did score a fifty, which was a positive. But one fifty across an entire season is not enough to justify a INR 4 crore price tag when you are not bowling and not playing as an all-rounder in the true sense.
The other issue is predictability. Any team that has watched Tewatia bat over the last two seasons knows exactly what he is going to do. He shuffles to the fourth stump and swings towards mid-wicket. Bowlers know it. Fielding captains know it. Gaps get blocked and his effectiveness goes down. That kind of one-dimensional batting becomes easy to plan against at the highest level.
GT can find a finisher who is harder to read, more versatile, and perhaps even cheaper. Releasing Tewatia is a logical next step.
Luke Wood, Backup With No Real Future at GT
Luke Wood came in as a backup overseas pacer. He did not get any game time in IPL 2026, which says a lot about where he stands in GT’s plans.
GT have always loved having a left-arm pace option in their squad. Wood fits that role on paper. But if the team management did not trust him enough to play him even in the regular season, it is hard to see why he would feature in IPL 2027.
Wood is also not getting any younger. At this stage of his career, he needs game time to stay sharp and relevant. Sitting on the bench of an IPL squad is not going to help him or GT. Releasing him frees up a foreign player slot and gives GT the flexibility to bring in someone more impactful at the auction.
Kulwant Khejroliya, Too Much, Too Soon
Kulwant Khejroliya came in as a replacement player during IPL 2026. Surprisingly, he was thrown straight into Qualifier 1, one of the biggest matches of the season, against RCB’s very strong batting lineup. That is a tough ask for any player, let alone a replacement.
GT already have Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, and Ashok Sharma as pace options. That is a decent group of fast bowlers for the support roles. Adding another pacer in Khejroliya does not solve any existing gap in the squad. GT do not need to carry extra pacers, especially when those spots could be used to address other needs.
Jayant Yadav, Experience Is Valuable, But One Is Enough
Jayant Yadav and Ishant Sharma are both senior players who are mainly in the GT setup to guide and help younger players. That is a valuable role and GT should be credited for creating that kind of environment.
However, carrying two players primarily in mentoring roles is a luxury for a squad that still needs to fix its middle-order batting problems. Between the two, Jayant Yadav seems like the more expendable option. Ishant Sharma’s experience as a fast bowler could still be useful in a coaching or mentoring capacity, but GT can probably manage with just one senior figure in that kind of role.
Releasing Jayant would free up a small amount of money but more importantly, free up a squad spot for a player who can actually contribute on the field.
Anuj Rawat, Stuck Behind the Queue
Anuj Rawat is a wicketkeeper-batter who has barely got a look in at GT. The franchise has been giving chances to Kumar Kushagra instead, which shows where Rawat stands in their batting order plans.
If a player is not getting chances in the regular season and the team is clearly backing someone else in the same role, the smart move is to release that player and let him find a team where he gets proper game time. Rawat needs to play to grow. GT is simply not the right place for him right now.
What GT Should Keep in Mind
GT’s core is actually in good shape. Rashid Khan is still one of the best spinners in the world. Shubman Gill is the captain and the engine of this batting lineup. Sai Sudharsan is developing into a proper IPL batter. Jos Buttler adds international class at the top. Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj are a top-quality pace duo. Washington Sundar is improving every season. Jason Holder gives balance.
The problem is not the top of the squad, it is the lower-middle section that keeps letting GT down in big matches. When the top three fail, as they did in the 2026 final, there is no one further down who can truly rescue the innings.
By releasing Shahrukh Khan, Tewatia, Wood, Khejroliya, Jayant Yadav, and Anuj Rawat, GT would free up a meaningful amount of money and multiple squad spots. That gives them real room to target a high-quality middle-order batter and perhaps another big-hitting all-rounder at the IPL 2027 auction.
Three finals in five years is a brilliant record. But GT have not won the title since their back-to-back years. To go from being a finalist to a champion, tough squad decisions are part of the process. Some of these releases may feel harsh, but they are the kind of calls that separate teams that always “almost win” from teams that actually lift the trophy.
